Mildred Wallhausen

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- Mildred Wallhausen, 94, of East Prairie died Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009, at her home.

She was born April 3, 1914, in Brooklyn, N.Y., daughter of Gustav and Julia Herrle Knoop. She married Art L. Wallhausen Sr. He died in 1969.

She graduated high school in Wachula, Fla., and lived in New York attending college and working as a secretary. She took a job with the Poplar Bluff Daily American Republic. In 1935, she and her future husband purchased the Enterprise-Courier in Charleston, Mo.

For 73 years, Wallhausen had numerous jobs at the newspaper. Following the death of her husband, she became publisher of the Enterprise-Courier. In 1970, she began her weekly column, "Millie's Soapbox." She became a member of the Missouri Press Association Hall of Fame in September 2000. She was a long-standing member of the Southeast Missouri Press Association, holding offices that included board member, officer and president. At the time of her death, she was association historian.

She was a member of the NAACP, the Mississippi County Community Churches organization and the Governor's Comprehensive Health Planning Council from 1969 to 1973. Other civic activities include serving on the state Mental Health Task Force, the Regional Planning Council, the Charleston Park and Recreation Board, the Charleston Senior Citizens Housing Project Board, serving as president of the Eugene Field School and Charleston High School Parent Teachers Associations, and from 1993 until her death she was a commissioner of the East Prairie Housing Authority. She was a Sunday school teacher, most recently at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Sikeston, Mo., where she was a member at the time of her death. She was named Charleston's "Woman of the Year" in 1973.

Survivors include a son, Art Wallhausen Jr. of Cape Girardeau; a daughter, Elizabeth Gail Anderson of East Prairie; a foster daughter, Sheila Mays of Sikeston; three grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; two great-stepgranddaughters; and two foster grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by a grandson and a foster brother.

Friends may call from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Sunday. at McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston.

The funeral will be 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home, with the Rev. Arnold Hoffman officiating. Burial will be in the IOOF Cemetery near Charleston.